This invention relates to a system for mounting photographs and the like, and more particularly to a system for mounting front-loaded photographs or other thin flat items into recesses in the surface of a piece of wood or other solid substrate.
Often it is desirable to mount and display thin, flat items such as photographs, artwork, stamps, needlepoint, baseball cards or labels. Display frames are traditionally made by joining a number of side members together with glue, nails, chevrons or other fastening devices. It is time consuming to make frames by this method, since the side members must first be formed, and then assembled. A number of costly tools are required to produce professional results. Most traditional frames are square or rectangular, the comers being mitered to disguise the cut end portions of the side members. In industry, expensive and precise machines are used to cut and join the mitered side pieces due to the accuracy required to make all four comer joints meet at the proper angle without gaps. For woodworkers and hobbyists without such machinery, making display frames in this manner can be frustrating.
Another disadvantage of traditionally-made display frames is the difficulty of making frames with curved or free-form perimeters. Shaping, forming, and joining separate pieces to produce such profiles is extraordinarily difficult. Similarly, making frames with single or multiple display openings in the shape of circles, ovals, hearts, or other non-rectangular forms is also challenging.
The solution to creating free-form display frames from wood is usually to machine the desired perimeter from a solid slab of wood, and then cut holes through the slab in the shape of the desired display openings. The slab is then turned over, and in a separate machining operation a rabbet is formed from the back side of the frame to allow the glass, display item, and backing members to be assembled in the traditional way. Having to re-fixture the frame and conduct the rabbeting operation is time consuming, adding significantly to the labor component of the frame-making process.
To address the issue of creating different shapes and/or numerous display frame openings, traditional display frames commonly employ decorative mats that surround the framed item or items. These mats can improve the appearance of a framed item by allowing it to be cropped to eliminate unwanted or distracting elements. In most ready-made commercial frames, however, this advantage is mitigated by the fact that the mat openings are made to a specific size and shape, with no relationship to the item that may ultimately appear behind it. These mats provide no means of altering their size, shape, or arrangement, a frustration to people interested in exercising creativity in the framing process. The most common current solution to this problem is to have items professionally framed with custom-made mats. Another solution is to purchase mat cutting equipment to provide the desired flexibility. Both of these expensive solutions are beyond the means of many millions of consumers.
In addition to mats, traditional display frames frequently employ a backing piece of wood or cardboard that is separate from the main frame. This backing piece covers and presses against the rear side of the item being framed, protecting it from dust and moisture and helping to retain the item and protective glass or plastic within the main frame. Fasteners are usually required to hold the backing piece in place. Accurately placing and driving these fasteners requires the use of tools, and can be difficult. The necessity of removing the fasteners to change the contents of the display frame is time consuming, and can damage the frame.
Consequently, while there are many systems and techniques for mounting photographs or other thin flat items from the back side of a frame, there are many times when it is desirable to recess and retain the items from the front side of the mounting structure. This is particularly true when the back of the mounting structure is inaccessible or inconvenient to reach. For example, it may be desirable to recess and retain a photograph in a piece of wood of considerable thickness, or into a desktop or installed wall panel where only the front surface is accessible. Being able to change the display item without accessing the back of the frame is a distinct advantage of front-loading frames in these applications.
Another advantage of front-loading frames is that a portion of the main frame can serve the same function as the separate backing piece of a traditional frame, resulting in a reduction in the number of components needed to frame an item, as well as faster and easier assembly and disassembly.
Since most photographs are rectangular, display frames ordinarily provide a rectangular recess to hold them. Because of the difficulty of machining flat-bottomed recesses with square comers, most front-loading display frames where the main frame member is adapted to eliminate a backing piece are made as a single unitary piece by casting, forging, forming, or molding processes. These processes are too costly for do-it-yourself picture framers to utilize.
A number of prior art systems are known for mounting photographs and the like from the front side of a recess or picture frame. These known systems usually require that the recess include a groove in the sidewall, or a flanged retaining frame with the flange overhanging the perimeter of the recess, or rectangular inner frames with square comers which are press fit into the recess. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,836,035-Matys shows a front-loaded coin and picture frame, in which coins or photographs are held in a recess by means of an expanding circular spring ring fitting in a groove in the sidewall. There currently exists a round plastic photograph frame insert assembly that holds a photograph in a round recess. It uses a flanged retaining ring design, whereby the flange overhangs the perimeter of the recess, and the photograph is held inside the insert by a separate backing piece that snaps into the insert. This complete assembly is then pressed into the recess. Molded tabs on the perimeter of the insert ring press against the sidewall of the recess to hold it in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,858 issued Jul. 10, 1990 to Dailey shows (FIG. 3) a rectangular inner clamping frame of plastic which frictionally engages the edges of an outer recess holding a photograph with rectangular dimensions loaded from the front. The inner rectangular clamping frame is dimensioned to be held frictionally in place within a recess with planar sidewalls.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,151 issued May 20, 1969 to Stefanakis discloses a front loaded mirror assembly, wherein a recess with a closed bottom surface is provided with ribs spaced from the sidewalls, leaving channels around the periphery. A bezel retaining the mirror in the recess includes legs, which are heat-sealed in the channels.
Other front-loaded frames with mounting members holding a thin flat item within a recess accessible only from the front are disclosed in the following patents, which are exemplary of the prior art.
In light of the foregoing, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
a.) to provide an improved system for removably mounting photographs or other thin, flat items into the front surface of wood or similar substrate materials;
b.) to provide a system for mounting thin, flat items into the surface of substrates having significant thickness;
c.) to provide a system for making a display frame from a unitary, solid substrate, eliminating the need to join together a plurality of frame members;
d.) to provide a system for mounting front-loaded thin, flat items where the items can be easily removed from the front side of the frame;
e.) to provide a system for making display frames that eliminates the need for a backing piece behind the display item that is separate from the frame;
f.) to provide a system for making front-loading display frames that allows inexpensive, common machining processes such as drilling, milling, or routing to be used to produce the part of the frame that receives the display item, in addition to more expensive, tooling-intensive processes like molding, casting or forging;
g.) to provide a front-loaded display frame mounting structure that can accommodate a variety of shaped display frame openings, all of which can be produced using a single axially-rotatable cutting tool such as a drill, end mill, or router bit, with a single setup in a single machining operation;
h.) to provide an improved front-loading display frame mounting structure utilizing a single element to hold the display item in place that also serves a decorative function;
i.) to provide a display frame that may be readily assembled without the use of tools;
j.) to provide a front-loading display frame having one or more shaped display frame openings that does not require the use of mats;
k.) to provide an improved structure for display frames with free-form perimeters made from solid substrates, eliminating the need for a separate rabbeting operation on the back of the frame to create a recess for receiving the glass, photograph, and backing member.
The invention comprises a system for mounting thin flat items, comprising a substrate having an outer surface defining at least one recess therein, the recess having an opening thereinto from the outer surface, a closed, planar bottom surface, and a curvilinear recess wall connecting the closed planar bottom surface to the recess opening in the outer surface, the recess wall having a smooth curvilinear sidewall portion intersecting the planar bottom surface, the recess wall defining a continuous curvilinear periphery of the recess having a first peripheral outline, a first peripheral dimension and a second peripheral dimension, whereby the first peripheral outline and first peripheral dimension define the smallest shape and size of the recess, and whereby the first peripheral outline and the second peripheral dimension define the shape and size of the recess at the intersection of the sidewall portion and the planar bottom surface; and a continuous flexible decorative retaining ring, the retaining ring having a curvilinear peripheral outline corresponding to the first peripheral outline and arranged to contact the sidewall portion, the retaining ring being disposed in the recess and having a third peripheral dimension smaller than the first peripheral dimension, so as to retain a thin flat item that has been inserted into the recess opening.
In the preferred embodiment, the second peripheral dimension of the recess is greater than the first peripheral dimension of the recess, whereby the retaining ring is held in place by interference engagement with the sidewall portion of the recess.
In another embodiment, the second peripheral dimension of the recess is substantially equal to the first peripheral dimension of the recess, whereby said retaining ring is held in place by frictional engagement with the sidewall portion of the recess.
The system also optionally includes a transparent protective cover, the cover being disposed in the recess between the display item and the retaining ring so as to rest on top of the item to protect it and to hold it flat against the planar bottom surface of the recess, the cover having a curvilinear periphery substantially the same as the first peripheral outline of the recess but having a slightly smaller peripheral dimension than the first peripheral dimension of the recess, whereby the cover is arranged to fit inside the recess.
In its preferred embodiment the substrate is wood and the retaining ring is plastic. Curvilinear shapes may be circular, elliptical, heart-shaped, or polygonal with filleted comers. The term xe2x80x9ccurvilinearxe2x80x9d is defined herein to include straight lines joined by curved lines, but to exclude straight lines intersecting with each other.